Digital Literacy: Exploring Russian and Ukrainian History in Canada

14 October 1899 In 1897, a group of settlers from Bukovyna established homes in Gardenton, Manitoba. St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Canada’s first permanent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, was consecrated there in 1899. It is designed in the three-chamber style typical of small churches in northern Bukovyna. Recognized as both a Manitoba Provincial Heritage Site and a National Historic Site, it is the oldest existing Ukrainian church in Canada. Opening of First Permanent Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada

April 1897 Founding of Settlement Block in Dauphin, Manitoba In 1896, Dr. Jósef Olesków arrived near Dauphin Lake, Manitoba. He determined that it would be perfect for a group of 30 families that he was organizing to move to Canada from Bukovyna and Galicia. They arrived in 1897 and worked with the railway and at sawmills to save money to establish farms. A growing number of Ukrainian settlers survived bitterly cold winters and an 1899 prairie fire that took many homes and barns. By 1913, the predominantly Ukrainian community had become the government seat and commercial centre for the Northern Judicial District.

First Ukrainian Canadian Newspaper Published

12 November 1903

A multilingual teacher, businessman and town councillor, Cyril Genik (born 1857 in Galicia; died 1925 in Winnipeg) was tasked by Dr. Jósef Olesków with bringing a second contingent of settlers to Canada later in 1896. Genik settled in Winnipeg. In 1896, he was hired as an immigration agent, making him the first full-time Ukrainian Canadian in the federal civil service. He also started Canada’s first Ukrainian-language newspaper — Kanadyiskyi farmer (Canadian farmer) — in 1903. Known in the Ukrainian Canadian community as “the Czar of Canada,” Genik was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1995.

7,500 Doukhobors Settle in Canada

1899

1897 First Russian Orthodox Church in Canada What is likely the very first Russian Orthodox church in Canada was established in the settlement of Stary Wostok in Alberta. This small settlement was composed of Russians who had emigrated from Western Ukraine. The church’s establishment dates back to 1897 when the land was applied for.

Doukhobors were a persecuted religious minority in Russia. They were pacifists and also rejected the Tsarist government and the Orthodox Church. Doukhobor immigration to Canada was assisted by people who opposed the persecution they faced. British and American Quakers, anarchists, Canadian interior minister Clifford Sifton and even Leo Tolstoy all played a role in assisting about 7,500 Doukhobors to emigrate to Canada around the turn of the 20th century. Many settled in Saskatchewan.